Recreational vehicles (RVs) including motor homes, travel trailers and caravans are now commonplace. They provide families with an opportunity to drive to locations of interest and have immediate access to living quarters upon arrival. The flexibility provided by such temporary living spaces are such that the users do not pay hotel fees, they are close to nature, and leave little in way of carbon footprint. While this seemingly simple way of living has many advantages, RVs and caravans have a number of significant drawbacks, which can hamper the full enjoyment of their use. The most common problem is providing a living space that is both functional and sufficiently large so that the users do not feel cramped whilst inside.
To address these problems, a number of RVs have been designed, which provide extensible slide-out units for increasing the vehicle's living space. This slide-out unit may be extended for use when the vehicle is parked and is retracted in a telescoping manner when the vehicle is to be moved. Examples of such designs are given below.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,802,834 for “Multiple slide-out room for a recreational vehicle” to Cadena et al on Sep. 28, 2010 discloses multiple slide-out system for a recreational vehicle or the like includes a first slide-out section having a first floor, a first carriage abutting and affixed to the first floor, a first driven track affixed to the underside of the first carriage, and a first drive motor anchored to the floor of the vehicle to drive the first slide-out section relative to the vehicle. A second slide-out section which slides within the first slide-out section includes a second floor, a second carriage abutting and affixed to the second floor, a second driven track affixed to the underside of the second carriage, and a second drive motor anchored to top side of the first carriage to drive the second slide-out section relative to the first slide-out section. The driven tracks do not extend underneath the portions of the slide-out section floors that will be visible from the outside of the vehicle when the system is in its extended position, thereby presenting a clean and generally smooth appearance when viewed from the outside.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,226,116 for “Recreational vehicle full wall slide-out” to Jones on Jun. 5, 2007 discloses a mobile recreational vehicle, which includes a body enclosing a living area designed to serve as self-contained living quarters during recreational travel. The body is supported on at least one pair of wheels (and often two or more pairs). The vehicle includes a ceiling assembly, a floor assembly; and an elongated and adjustable ceiling support extending between the ceiling assembly and the floor assembly wherein the height of the support can be adjusted during installation. In some instances, the vehicle has a shortened full length slide-out to allow for additional sidewall ceiling support, and in some instances has a slide-out opening that has cambered upper edges to minimize sagging the opening.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,527,324 for “Adjustable slide-out room for mobile living quarters” to McManus et el on Mar. 4, 2003 discloses a recreational vehicle, which includes structure defining side walls of a main living unit mounted on a frame and a slide-out room which extends and retracts through an aperture in one of the side walls. Adjustments are provided to adjust the angular orientation of the slide-out room without respect to the sidewall of the main living unit, to adjust the vertical position of the slide-out room in the extended position and to adjust the tilt of the slide-out room. Further adjustments are also provided to adjust the position of the back wall of the slide-out room in the retracted position to assure that trim and decals applied to the side wall of the unit and extending over the back wall of the slide-out room are properly aligned.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,491,933 for “Flat floor slide out apparatus for expandable rooms” to Miller et al on Feb. 20, 1996 discloses an expandable room structure, which has relatively movable room portions supported by telescopically sliding tubes, at least one of those tubes being movable also laterally to pivot as the room portion floors slide into the same horizontal plane when the room structure is moving into expanded positions. In retracted positions the room portion floors are vertically spaced to permit one room portion to nest within the other. A rack and pinion drive arrangement is provided to cause relative movement between the tubes. Lateral movement of one of the tubes is permitted by engagement with an inclined surface extending out of the other tube such that the laterally moving tube pivots about the pinion. A ramp surface is formed on the abutting edge of the floor of one room portion, and the abutting edge of the floor of the other room portion moves up and down that ramp portion when transitioning between expanded and retracted positions. When moving to expanded positions, such movement down the ramp occurs prior to pivoting of the sliding tube(s), such that end wall weather sealing is pivotally clamped without vertical sliding.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,248,180 for “Expandable enclosure” to Hussaini on Sep. 28, 1993 discloses an expandable enclosure suitable for a cargo vehicle, a passer vehicle, a stationary shelter or a stationary storage facility. An expansion unit is outwardly translatable from the enclosure by racks fixed to the unit. The expansion unit has first uprights fixed between the racks and second uprights fixed to the enclosure but having a sliding connection with the racks. Third uprights are disposed between the first and second uprights and are slidingly connected between the racks. The expansion unit may be mounted to the enclosure by the gears alone or may additionally be supported by a cantilever beam when the expansion unit is being deployed.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,222,604 for “Caravan or campervan construction” to Human on Sep. 16, 1980 discloses a transportable housing structure comprising a cabin unit having access openings and a foldable/unfoldable annex attachment at the rear or trailing end and capable of forming a caravan-body or campervan-body or similar vehicular body is provided, the annex attachment being formed by a pair of rigid panel members hinged to the top and bottom of the cabin unit respectively for movement from a folded, relatively vertical, non-use position to an unfolded, relatively horizontal, in-use position; a flexible cover member extending around the peripheries of the panel members top to bottom from the rear of the cabin unit; a pair of hinged posts at the outer corners of the panel members to depend from the top panel member and support the unfolded top panel member on the unfolded bottom panel member; and a pair of hinged legs to depend from the outer corners of the bottom panel member and support the unfolded annex attachment on the ground.
Disadvantageously, some of the designs described above include an extension/retraction system that relies on screws or a pinion to provide telescoping movement of the slide-out unit relative to the vehicle. If screws are used, they must be short for practical reasons because longer screws deform so that the axis of the screw is not linear. If pinions are used, they too must be short. Since the amplitude of movement of the slide-out room or compartment can be no greater than the length of the screw or pinion, the amplitude of sliding movement, and hence the amount of additional space gained by the slide-out compartment, is limited.
Other types of slide-out units use an endless cable which passes over a pair of pulleys which is supported by a main part of the mobile home and another pair of pulleys mounted on sidewalls of an extension part of the mobile home cause the extension part to reciprocate. Another slide-out installation shows an expanding unit, which includes a rotatable shaft and two types of cables wound around the shaft. Rotation of the shaft in one direction causes one type of cable to wind as the other type unwinds, causing a second module to reciprocate in one direction relative to first module. Rotation of the shaft in the opposite direction causes the second module to move in the opposite direction.
A major problem that hampers the use of slide-out units is that of cantilevering as the unit extends. The outer end of the extended slide-out unit tends to tip downwardly, which places weight on the slide-out unit's operating mechanism. The cantilevered slide-out unit also tends to cause looseness at the top, which in turn causes tightness at the bottom. This puts weight on the slide-out mechanism, which in impairs slidability and causes leakage around the joints.
Another problem with slide-out units is that they require significant modification of the vehicle's sub frame. This makes designs of this type prohibitively expensive to manufacture. Furthermore, the complexity of the above designs makes their maintenance difficult
Thus, there is a need for an improved temporary habitation unit, which provides a larger living space.